Woodline Partners LP Acquires New Holdings in Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL)

Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,415 shares of the textile maker's stock, valued at approximately $558,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of RL. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,120,508 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $489,795,000 after acquiring an additional 70,544 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,415,473 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $326,946,000 after acquiring an additional 205,121 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 30.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,237,512 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $285,841,000 after acquiring an additional 289,924 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,079,578 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $249,361,000 after acquiring an additional 82,819 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 982,927 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $227,085,000 after acquiring an additional 65,303 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.91% of the company's stock.

Ralph Lauren Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of Ralph Lauren stock traded down $1.02 during trading on Friday, hitting $276.71. 666,863 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 826,626. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.44. Ralph Lauren Co. has a 1-year low of $155.96 and a 1-year high of $289.33. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $233.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $238.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.31.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The textile maker reported $2.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. Ralph Lauren had a return on equity of 30.88% and a net margin of 10.14%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ralph Lauren Co. will post 12.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 22nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the textile maker to repurchase up to 8.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Ralph Lauren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a $0.9125 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 27th. This is a positive change from Ralph Lauren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.65 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Ralph Lauren's payout ratio is currently 31.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Ralph Lauren from $258.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Ralph Lauren from $318.00 to $328.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Ralph Lauren in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Ralph Lauren in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Ralph Lauren from $262.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ralph Lauren presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $292.88.

Ralph Lauren Company Profile

Ralph Lauren Corporation designs, markets, and distributes lifestyle products in North America, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company offers apparel, including a range of men's, women's, and children's clothing; footwear and accessories, which comprise casual shoes, dress shoes, boots, sneakers, sandals, eyewear, watches, fashion and fine jewelry, scarves, hats, gloves, and umbrellas, as well as leather goods, such as handbags, luggage, small leather goods, and belts; home products consisting of bed and bath lines, furniture, fabric and wallcoverings, floor coverings, lighting, tabletop, kitchen linens, floor coverings, dining, decorative accessories, and giftware; and fragrances.